Gliese 581 b was the first planet found around the red dwarf Gliese 581, a nearby star in the constellation Libra roughly 20 light-years away. It was detected with the HARPS spectrograph at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, using the radial velocity method, which measures tiny wobbles in the star's light caused by an orbiting planet's gravity. The planet has a mass comparable to that of Neptune, and it circles its star every few days, far too close to be habitable. Later observations revealed several more planets in the system, some of them in or near the habitable zone, which made Gliese 581 a focus of attention in the search for life, although the existence of some of the additional planets has since been disputed.
Before and after
- 16 July 2005Publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- 29 July 2005Founding of Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia
- 12 August 2005Launch of Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- 17 August 2005Release of Joomla
- 22 August 2005Discovery of Gliese 581 b
- from 29 August 2005 to 30 May 2017Premiere of Prison Break
- 10 September 2005Discovery of Dysnomia
- from 13 September 2005 to 19 November 2020Premiere of Supernatural
- from 13 September 2005 to 28 March 2017Premiere of Bones
More in Universe & space
- 16 February 1948Discovery of Miranda
- 4 March 1979Discovery of Metis
- 24 April 1990Launch of Hubble Space Telescope
- 1998Supernovae show that cosmic expansion is accelerating
- 10 April 2019The first image of a black hole
- 25 December 2021Launch of James Webb Space Telescope
The era
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